DISTORTIONS OF TIME AND SPACE SERIES

"I am interested in the process of collage and the way it relies heavily on the image and the disfiguration of its subject matter and layering. Collage has the ability to distort and create new paradigms of viewing that can question our sense of reality. Seemingly concrete elements such as time, space and place become intangible concepts susceptible to the mind and how we choose to interpret them." - L.BEASLEY

The selected paintings from this current body of works explore the process of collage reinterpreted through the medium of paint. Inspiration and imagery has been sourced from both local Australian landscapes and the Internet, and is reconstructed to form new sceneries that alter perspectives and play on ideas of reality and representation. These ideas endeavor to mirror the image’s relationship to truth with in a highly digitalized society and its ability to influence and distort social ideals of reality and the way we view our selves and surroundings.

REAL LIFE

Focusing on the human form, these abstract representations were drawn/painted in the moment from life models and explore ideas of perception and identity.

Nude Woman 1 2006. Acrylic on Board. 100 x 120cm

Nude Woman 2. 2006. Ink, Charcoal and Conte on Paper. 70 x 93cm

Unfinished 2008. Oil on Canvas. 76 x 76cm

Jozef 2013. Acrylic, Conte and Newspaper on Canvas. 92 x 122cm

Naked 2006. Charcoal on Paper. 70 x 88cm

Folds 2015. Oil on Canvas. 80 x 100cm

Dreamer, 2013. Oil and Conte on Canvas. 30 x 30cm

STILL LIFE

Ideas of reality, representation and illusion continue to be played with even in the most subtlest forms. The contradictory nature of still life paintings is both alluring and amusing in the way they suggest a candid representation of whatever happened to be sitting on the coffee table that day. "The reality which I find so intriguing is the fabrication of scenes and gathered props and materials to create ideal compositions that appear to be real and natural. Our realities are completely constructed, either by ourselves or someone else." -L. Beasley

GLASS

These slumped glass works share a dialogue with the Distortions of Time and Space series, mimicking the brushwork and fluidity of the paint. In recreating these movements in glass- a medium which conventionally boasts qualities of solidity, inflexibility and fragility, the works take on new interpretations of real and reality.

Green Leaves 2015. Glass slumped through wire mesh. 22 x 22 x 19cm

Sap 2015. Glass Slumped through Wire. 29 x 26.5 x 10.5cm

Fallen 2015. Slumped Glass. 22 x 22cm

FLUNG INK

These works refer to the ancient Chinese practice of ‘flung-ink painting’ as performed by Ch’an (Zen) Buddhists. The works take place after a period of meditation (or relaxation) aiming to free the mind of thought to achieve a subconscious reaction between body, ink and paper. Chance and spontaneity rule the process and composition of these works. They eliminate the need to control, and act as a reminder that sometimes the unknown and letting go can result in gratifying outcomes.

ink on paper A3

ink on paper A3

ink on paper A4

ink on paper A4

White Noise 2015. Ink and acrylic on cartridge. 150 x 150cm.

Trance 2015. Ink and Acrylic on Cartridge. 120 x 120cm.

Grain 2015. Ink on Cartridge. 3x A1 pieces.

Ink on A3 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

Ink and Rice on folded A4 Paper

Ink on A4 Paper

DIGITAL MEDIA/INSTALLATION

Engrossed in a highly virtual society, video, sound and photography are at the forefront of our social media engagement, shaping not only the way we view, but also experience ourselves and surroundings. Digital intervention has the ability to project socially constructed ideals of reality that question notions of truth, blurring the lines between what is real and what is not.

Using digital mediums plays a strong part in the fundamental concepts of my work. By incorporating both painting and video/sound along side one another, I am able to construct a critical dialogue between the works and their underlying ideas of real, representation and reality that perception can fabricate.

RECENT WORK

The Clarity of Ambiguity

This project explores the psychological complexities that are inherent to what is unknown, both, in a direct situational sense and in a broader philosophical sense. Regularly confronted with the banal routine – even facade – of everyday life, it is not unprecedented to question its reality. Anxiety, doubt, curiosity, fear and foreboding are emotions that are often generated due to what is concealed or unknown. The works engage these emotions, drawing on shadow and lighting, colour and composition, to create a sensory experience between imagery and spectator.

As well as being conceptually grounded in ambiguity, the works demonstrate the ways in which ambiguity, in the form of what may be called a visual poetry, is foregrounded as an aesthetic. By using ambiguous imagery in conjunction with montage effects, readings of the works may be fashioned that are neither closed nor didactic in their structure but rather, allows for open and multivariant interpretations.